Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Black History Inventors Encore

The free Black History Inventors reference profiled in this short video includes many amazing individuals. Many have received US patents.

You can listen to black history inventors historical facts through your speaker or headphones spoken by a real person in this app.

An excellent reference about black history inventors in the Amazon App Store, not just for Black History Month, but for anytime.  Developed by BlackHistoryPeople.com for Android.

Posted by Hugh Smith on 01/09 at 08:42 PM
Inventors • Research • Software App • Video • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Bessie Smith the Empress of the Blues

Bessie Smith, (1898-1937), recorded over 80 records for Columbia.  Her legendary recordings sold over ten million copies.  “Down Hearted Blues,” her first recording, sold over one million copies in 1923.

She achieved her biggest hit in 1929 with “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out."

The influence of blues song stylist Smith can be heard in the music of Janis Joplin, Dinah Washington, Mahalia Jackson, and Billie Holiday.

Smith, known as “The Empress of the Blues” was discovered by blues singer Ma Rainey in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1910.

Posted by Hugh Smith on 12/12 at 08:17 PM
Music • Entertainment • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Black History the Music Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know

Are you ready for some spirited commentary and a frank warning with historical background written by Deeann D. Mathews about what happens when a music artist goes to work with a record label? Don’t be shocked by Black History the Music Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know!

Posted by Hugh Smith on 11/14 at 05:13 PM
Music • Commentary • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Black History People Photo Quiz

Do you know who this person is?

Here’s a quick Black History People Photo Quiz we created featuring 5 interesting African Americans.


Posted by Hugh Smith on 10/17 at 07:15 PM
History • Quiz • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

How The US Supreme Court Influenced Black History

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857).

Brown v. Board of Education argued by Thurgood Marshall (1954).

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)...just 3 of 10 landmark Supreme Court decisions that influenced black history in the USA.

Caryn Freeman highlights 10 cases in a colorful slide show “Supreme Court cases that shaped black America.” Take a look!  (Thurgood Marshall is pictured here).


Posted by Hugh Smith on 09/26 at 05:39 PM
History • Law • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The Real African American Cowboys

Nat, “Deadwood Dick,” Love, (1854-1921), was a famous cowboy.  He first made a name for himself when he journeyed from his native Tennessee to Dodge City, Kansas.

Love was a scout and range boss.  He led cattle drives, participated in rodeos, fought the native American Indians, and developed into quite a legend.  In 1907, he wrote his autobiography.

Rodeo cowboy Bill Pickett, (1860-1932), was born in Texas.  He developed the art of “bulldogging,” the technique of twisting the neck of a steer by the horns and wrestling it to the ground.

The brazen cowboy gained fame from his bulldogging practice of biting the lip or nose of steers.  Pickett was a super star on the wild west rodeo show circuit.

He toured with the 101 Ranch Wild West promotion throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, and England.

Pickett was kicked by a stallion and died in 1932.  He was the first African American cowboy inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in Oklahoma (1971).

These are the Real African American black history cowboys.

Posted by Hugh Smith on 08/22 at 06:02 PM
Cowboys • History • Video • (0) Comments • Permalink

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Black History Inventors App Celebrates Ingenuity

Clever inventions, creative solutions, and smart answers to fix all kinds of problems.  African American inventors throughout black history have dreamed up the impossible through innovation and hard work.

Marjorie Stewart Joyner came up with the wave curl in 1928.  Lewis Temple constructed a whaling harpoon in 1848.  Valerie Thomas tackled the illusion transmitter 1980.

It’s a revelation reviewing these resources in Black History Inventors, a free Android smart phone App with sound narration, developed by Hugh Smith, BlackHistoryPeople.com, and Quikthinking Software, available in the Amazon App Store, and from Google Play.

Posted by Hugh Smith on 07/31 at 08:48 PM
Inventors • Software App • Video • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Tuskegee Airmen In their own words

The Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum in Detroit, Michigan is a great online black history resource for all things Tuskegee Airmen.  Discover more!

Posted by Hugh Smith on 06/13 at 05:50 PM
History • Museum • Military • Video • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A Nova Scotia Mountie Chronicles African Canadians

Sergeant Craig Smith, a Nova Scotia Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer has won an award for chronicling the Canadian black experience.

He’s published four books about the history of African Canadians, focusing on Nova Scotians.

Find out why Smith wants to get his latest book, The Journey Continues: An Atlantic Canadian Black Experience, into classrooms in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Labrador, and Prince Edward Island.


Posted by Hugh Smith on 05/16 at 05:28 PM
History • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The Lost History of African American Inventors

Basketball legend and now author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar reveals an assortment of creative personalities in his book What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors.

Discover how the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Children’s Book Highlights Black Achievement.

Posted by Hugh Smith on 04/25 at 06:52 PM
Inventors • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

What Does Black History Month Mean to You?

If you went out on the streets of Philadelphia, PA and asked complete strangers what Black History Month means, what responses would you get?

Teacher Peter Tobias from the University of the Arts found out when his students, camera in hand, crossed cultures in the streets to get the real answers.

Posted by Hugh Smith on 03/14 at 09:07 PM
Commentary • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Black History Heroes of the Underground Railroad

By the time the U.S. Civil War ended the need for the Underground Railroad, a hero of this black history humanity train personally helped more than 400 slaves escape. William Still’s secret journal became the basis of his 1872 book on the underground railroad.

Posted by Hugh Smith on 02/15 at 07:44 PM
History • (0) Comments • Permalink

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

African American Themed Plays Escape February

Theater season for African American Themed Plays is now a year-round activity.

Posted by Hugh Smith on 01/31 at 07:30 PM
Theater • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

African American Museum accepts KKK Robes

Washington, DC’s Museum of African American History and Culture, scheduled to open in 2015, has acquired KKK robes.

Posted by Hugh Smith on 12/21 at 06:57 PM
News • (0) Comments • Permalink

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Joe Frazier Legacy: Top 5 Boxing Champion

Smokin’ Joe Frazier, who died on November 7, 2011, defeated Muhammad Ali in 1971 to become the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world.

Frazier trained and developed as a boxer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He won three Golden Glove titles (1962 -1964).  Joe also won the gold medal for boxing at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay on January 17, 1942, won an Olympic gold medal in Rome as a light heavy weight in 1960.  He defeated Sonny Liston in 1964 to win the heavy weight championship for the first time.

Ali won the crown again in 1974 by beating George Foreman.  “The Greatest” became the first in boxing history to win the heavy-weight title three times when he took out Leon Spinks in 1978.

Ali refused to be drafted into the U.S. Army (he was a conscientious objector on religious and moral grounds).  He was stripped of his first title in 1967.

Five time World Middleweight boxing Champion “Sugar" Ray Robinson won the title for the first time by defeating Jake La Motta on February 14, 1951.  Robinson lost and regained the crown during the 1950’s, winning it for the fifth time on March 25, 1958 beating Carmen Basilio.

Michael Gerald Tyson turned professional in 1985. He stopped WBC champion Trevor Berbick in the second round in 1986 to become the youngest heavyweight champion in history at age 20.

Tyson defeated Larry Holmes, Tony Tubbs, Frank Bruno, Carl Williams, and Michael Spinks early in his career.  Later, Tyson would lose to James “Buster” Douglas.  Tyson reclaimed the WBC and WBA titles in 1996.

In 2002, Mike suffered an eighth-round knockout in an unsuccessful title bid against Lennox Lewis.  When Mike Tyson retired in 2005, he had 50 wins, 6 loses, and 2 ties with 44 knockouts.

Named “Fighter of the Century,” in 1960, Joe Louis Barrow was a boxing folk hero.  He was known as “The Brown Bomber” when he stepped into the ring.  Born in Lafayette, Alabama (1914), Lewis worked his way up the ranks to become a contender.

He captured the heavyweight championship in 1937, and defended his title 25 times.  Lewis was champion from 1937-1949.  He’s the only champion to defend boxing’s top title while in the military, and during war.

Listen to the BlackHistoryPeople.com production of Joe Louis’ historic fight.


Posted by Hugh Smith on 11/16 at 08:00 PM
Sports • (0) Comments • Permalink
Page 1 of 12 pages  1 2 3 >  Last »